Lucifer
Line-up:
Jim Stiles (voc side A), Ken Lynch
(voc side 1), Ketsunori Tabata (git), Caspar Appeldoorn (git), Keisuke
Shimizu (bs), Andy Frick (dr)
format: 7" EP"
year: 1985
country:
Japan
label:
private
#:
pr 8503
info:
No insert. Lyrics on back.
style: Black Metal
Side A:
- Lucifer
Side B:
- Nuclear
- White Hell
((CLICK PICS FOR HI-RES SCANS))
I
know I'm far from the only one who is always on the lookout for the earliest
and most obscure Black/Death/Doom/Occult Metal releases, and finding "new"
and (almost) unknown items in this fairly narrow field these days is a
rare thing indeed. Therefore it is with great pleasure I bring this utterly
rare and seldom mentioned Satanic item out into the light for you "True
Old-School Black Metal" fanatics. Lets see if it will explode, implode,
melt, scratch, scream or mutate when the rays of light hit its black vinyl
heart...
Venom. Venom venom venom. Venom-venom venom venom venom-venom
venom. Venom? VENOM! ...That's pretty much what these guys were thinking
when recording this thing (see? I also do fortunetelling. Call me!) "Lucifer"
is the most blatant rip-off - no - ode to the Tyneside trio since
NME (hm.. same year). The song itself in an oversimple salut to ol' Nick
and his cohorts, but it's also one of the coolest
and most satanic Metal songs ever written. The lyrics are AMAZING. 'Nuff
hype, read for yourself:
WE'RE GATHERED HERE TONIGHT
TO CALL OUR LORD SATAN
GIVE US YOUR COMMAND
DEATH TO YOU, IS WHAT HE DEMANDS
I SPIT ON VIRGIN MARY
I VOMIT ON THE CROSS
I DO THIS ALL FOR YOU
LORD SATAN, LUCIFER
DEATH TO YOU CHRIST
HEAVEN BURNS
KILL THE ANGELS
SATAN LAUGHS
SOLD MY SOUL FOR AN EVIL GOAL
I'M A BLASPHEMER
I'LL SKIN YOU ALL ALIVE
I'M THE MESSENGER FROM HELL
I BEAR THE NUMBER
666
I WEAR THE CROSS
DIRTY, FILTHY, UPSIDE DOWN
I CURSE AT THE LYING PRIEST
I MAKE LOVE TO THE DEAD
I BURN THE FUCKING BIBLES
I LAUGH AT THE BLIND BELIEVERS
THEY BELIEVE IN A SECOND COMING
NOT AS LONG AS SATAN COMMANDS
I'M GONNA DRAG YOU TO THE GRAVE
YOU WILL BE BURIED ALIVE!
...all screamed in horribly pronounced English by some Japanese dude you
think. Wrong! There's no doubt about the fact that the vocalists
in WHITE HELL were English, or American, or perhaps even Australian -
that's the closest I could pinpoint that accent. Haven't got a clue though,
except for the fact that they're definitely not Japanese.
Turning to side B, or "1" as it says on the cover, things get
a little more Thrashy. The first SLAYER disc was apparently also a popular
vax on social gatherings of Mr Styles, Lynch, Tabata & co. Actually
it's more like SLAYER-meets-BAD NEWS than the aforementioned VENOMs. This
other vocalist sound very Brittish. Ein Gastarbeiter wielleicht? Could
this actually count as a semi-NWOBHM item?? Wham!! There came another
zero to the already high pricetag. Sorry BM-kids, now you'll NEVER see
another copy in your life. Nah... I really don't know shit. (Mind you,
that reads like a cry for help in the form of more info). The theme-song
is little more than an outro with this doomy, fuzzed-out riff played over
and over into fade-out infinity. Not a half-bad ending for the ultimate
Satan Metal cult item.
The production is kinda cool, not at all like the old muddy VENOM/NME/WARFARE
recordings, this is more of a sloppy kitchen-sink mix straight from the
rehearsal room. Everything is crisp and clear, but so totally devoid of
punch it actually sounds kinda scary. Like having these criminally insane,
disturbed drunkards in your livingroom looking for a fistfight or some
afternoon goatsodomy. And what if they're all out of goats?
Anyway, the single was definitely made in Japan, and Japanese collectors
vouch for the fact that it was a Japanese band, but judging from the names
of those involved they must have originated from many different places,
but no clues are given in the linernotes. There's some credit to a band
called BLACK BUDDHA though. If that's not the coolest Black Metal band
name ever I don't know shit from brown vinyl VENOM-records.